Minister calls for EU funding to help house young migrants

A total of 99 unaccompanied minors are living in migrant reception centers across the country as there is no available hostel space in which to accommodate them separately, Alternate Immigration Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou said on Tuesday.

A new hostel for unaccompanied migrant children has been operating in the Athens neighborhood of Ano Petralona for the past month and is currently accommodating 18 children who traveled to Greece from various countries without their parents or guardians.

Other hostels in Athens and Thessaloniki are full.

Christodoulopoulou stressed the need for additional European Union funding to help Greece “host refugees in basic humanitarian conditions.”

“We can’t talk about civilization, peace and social cohesion and not have unaccompanied minors at the focus of our attention.”